Syntherisma aequatoriense Hitchc., Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb.

Syntherisma aequatoriense Hitchc., Contr. U.S. Natl. Herb. 24: 426. 1927. Digitaria aequatoriensis (Hitchc.) Henrard, Meded. Rijks-Herb. 61: 5. 1930. — TYPE: ECUADOR. Guayas: Guayaquil , 0–50 m, A. S. Hitchcock 19949 (holotype: US!; isotypes: GH!, US!).

Iconography — Henrard (1950: 572, spikelet and upper floret); Vega and Rúgolo de Agrasar (2005: 261).

Geographical Distribution and Ecology — Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Brazil. Grows in dry, semi-deciduous forests, also near rivers from sea level to 2,000 m.

9. DIGITARIA SACCHARIFLORA (Nees) Henrard, Blumea 1: 99. 1934. Trichachne sacchariflora Nees, Fl. Bras. Enum. Pl. 2: 87. 1829. Panicum sacchariflorum (Nees) Steud., Syn. Pl. Glumac. 1: 97. 1854. Panicum insulare (L.) G. Mey. var. sacchariflorum (Nees) Hack., Anales Mus. Nac. Buenos Aires 11 (3): 71. 1904. — TYPE: BRAZIL. “Habitat in Brasilia australiori, e. g. ad Sebastiano-polin”, F. Sellow s. n., Martius s. n.; MARTINIQUE. Sieber s. n. [syntypes: B, destroyed; neotype: BRAZIL. Paraná: Ponta Grossa, camino a Tibagi, a 13 km de ruta BR-376, 12 Dec 1992, Z. Rúgolo et al. 1691 (SI), herein designated by A. S. Vega & Rúgolo].

Leptocoryphium penicilligerum Speg., Anales Soc. Ci. Argent. View in CoL 16: 102. 1883. Panicum penicilligerum (Speg.) Hack., Allg. Bot. Z. Syst. View in CoL 9: 93. 1902. Panicum insulare var. penicilligerum (Speg.) Hack., Anales Mus. Nac. View in CoL Buenos Aires 11: 70. 1904. Valota penicilligera (Speg.) Chase ex Parodi, Revista Fac. Agron. Veterin. View in CoL (Buenos Aires) 4: 46. 1922. Trichachne penicilligera (Speg.) Parodi, Gram. Bonaer. View in CoL (ed. 3): 86. 1939. — TYPE: ARGENTINA. “Ad limina sylvarum in provinciis Misiones prope Corpus; Chaco, prope coloniam Resistencia, 20 Apr 1883 ”. C. Spegazzini s. n. (lectotype: LP!; isolectotype: BAA–546!). LT designated (as type) by Veldkamp, Blumea View in CoL 21 (1): 49. 1973.

Observation — The type of Trichachne sacchariflora View in CoL Nees is composed of three specimens collected by Sellow, Martius , and Sieber. The first two specimens were collected in Brazil and the last one on Martinique Island. Based on the geographic distribution of D. sacchariflora View in CoL ( Vega & Rúgolo de Agrasar 2003, 2012), this species is exclusively distributed in Central America ( Guatemala, El Salvador) and South America ( Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Perú, Venezuela, Colombia, and Uruguay), so the identity of the specimen collected by Sieber is dubious. These three specimens are no longer at B because they were destroyed during the Second World War (R. Vogt, pers. comm.). Neither duplicates of these collections nor an illustration exists in other herbaria for a lectotype designation.

On the other hand, Hackel in Stuckert (1904) published Panicum insulare (L.) G. Mey. var. sacchariflorum (Raddi) Hack. and included Trichachne sacchariflora Nees as one of their synonyms, mentioning “ Stuckert Herb. Arg. 54” with other specimens from different localities in Córdoba ( Argentina). A particular mention was included about a specimen collected in Alta Gracia by Stuckert. In fact, Stuckert Herb. Arg. 54 corresponds to D. swalleniana Henrard ( Rúgolo de Agrasar 1974: 103) and the other material was identified as D. californica var. californica ( Rúgolo de Agrasar 1974: 96) . Further, Vega and Lo Medico have examined the material collected by Stuckert deposited at CORD in the context of the ongoing project Flora de Córdoba, but none of them corresponded to D. sacchariflora . Hackel also cited “ Kneucker. Allg. Bot. Zeitsch. (1903) Gram. exsicc. pug. 1. p. 2”. Kneucker and Stuckert collected grasses in Córdoba ( Argentina) in 1904; neither of these materials were identified as Panicum insulare var. sacchariflorum nor any other synonyms.

Since no isosyntypes of the Sellow and Martius collections, as well as any original material of T. sacchariflora was localized in other herbaria, and according to Art. 9.16 of the International Code of Nomenclature ( McNeill et al. 2012), it was necessary to select a neotype. The neotype herein designated [ Brazil, Paraná, Ponta Grossa, camino a Tibagi, a 13 km de ruta BR–376, 12 Dec 1992, Z. Rúgolo et al. 1691 (SI)] is consistent with Nee’ s diagnosis and it was collected relatively near the place where the Brazilian syntypes were collected.

Iconography — Henrard (1950: 643, spikelet and upper floret), Vega and Rúgolo de Agrasar (2012: 304, spikelet).

Geographical distribution and ecology — Guatemala, El Salvador, Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, Paraguay, Argentina, and Uruguay. Frequent in sandy soils of subtropical regions and in river ravines from sea level to 2,020 m.